Page 30 of The Devil She Knows
“No one is forcing you to wish for anything, Sam. Executory consideration, remember?” She swept out a hand and gestured to the metal side-sliding door set into the wall, the only clue that this room had once been an elevator. Wasstillan elevator? “No one is stopping you from walking out that door and returning to your life as you know it.”
Life as she knew it meant a life where she and Hannah had broken up, and Sam … Sam wasn’t ready to accept that.
“But you don’treallywant to do that, do you?” Daphne mused, as if sensing the direction of Sam’s thoughts. “You’re still so in love with Hannah that you can’t picture a life without her.” She paused. “You can still have everything you want, you know. All you have to do is say—”
“I know how it works,” Sam snapped. “I sayI wish, and you give me what I want just half a bubble off plumb, and I wind up in the back of a cruiser in cuffs.”
She was damned if she did, damned if she didn’t, trapped between a rock and a demon.
Daphne held up her hand and stuck out her pinky. “What if I promise I won’t make you a felon this time?”
Sam wrinkled her nose, not even trying to hide her distaste at the idea of locking their pinkies. “Youreallyought to work on your sales tactics.”
Daphne sighed and dropped her hand. “I’ll admit, I can see how corrupting your last wish might not have engendered the most confidence that I won’t do it again—”
Sam snorted. “Tryanyconfidence.”
“—but, as a gesture of good faith, to prove to you that I’m being sincere, I’ll throw in a complimentary get-out-of-jail-free card with your next wish.” She snapped her fingers, and another small rectangular card appeared in her hand. “I, Daphne, a representative of Hell, hereby grant you, Samantha Cooper, legal immunity. Henceforth, from now until the time when ‘nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom and there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places’ blah, blah, biblical end of times, blah, you will not be held liable for a violation of law, including criminal prosecution and civil liability.” She brandished the orange card at Sam with a flourish. “Put plainly, should you decide to, say, evade your taxes or give in to any homicidal urges, you won’t face any legal ramifications.” She shrugged. “You’ll just feel icky about it.”
Sam held up the card. “This has the Monopoly man on it.It’s literally from the board game. It even has ‘Parker Brothers, Inc.’ written on it.”
“And?Ever heard of a gesture?” Daphne rolled her eyes. “I don’t think you realize what a big deal this is, Sam. Do you know how many people have sold their soulsjustto get out of jail? Here I am giving you my best BOGO and you’re going to look a gift horse in the mouth? Rude.”
“Rude?” Really? “That’s rich coming from you.”
“Fine. In addition to the get-out-of-jail-free card, I’ll sweeten the deal and promise that I won’t put you in a position that would cause jeopardy to life or limb. Happy?”
Sweeten the deal? The bar was in Hell. “Promise you won’t put me in a position that would cause jeopardy to life or limborland me in prison, and then we’ll talk.”
“I just gave you a get-out-of-jail-free card—”
“And that’s great and all, but Hannah made it clear she couldn’t be with a criminal, so—”
“No, Hannah made it clear that she couldn’t be with a criminal who gotcaught.”
Daphne said it as if the distinction was important.
Sam shook her head. It didn’t matter. “Just—promise.”
“Fine.I promise I won’t put you in a position that would cause jeopardy to your life or limborland you in prison.” Daphne crossed her arms, foot tapping impatiently. “Granting wishes is my art, Sam. I hope you realize this would be like asking Michelangelo or Matisse or Pollock to paint by numbers.”
Tough. Daphne could experiment all she wanted when someone else’s soul was at stake.
Promise or no promise, Sam trusted Daphne about as faras she could throw her, which was to say not at all. But the alternative? Giving up? No way.
Hannah had never given up on her. Well, she hadn’t until she’d turned down Sam’s proposal and broken up with her. But before that, she hadn’t. From day one, Hannah had been—second to Sam’s parents—her biggest champion, encouraging her to take risks that she might not have otherwise, believing in her when she hadn’t always believed in herself.
Sam owed it to Hannah to try again, loved her too much to throw in the towel. Things had been good between them once and they could be good again. Giving up was not an option.
Sam just had to get her wish right this time. Build on what had worked with her first wish and be ultra specific. Leave absolutely no room for Daphne to twist her words.
What was it Hannah had said back at the restaurant?
When we met, you had so much potential, and I’m not going to wait around a second longer and watch you continue to squander it.
“I’ve got it,” Sam said, knowing what she was going to wish for. “I’m—I’m ready to make my next wish.” “Go on.” Daphne swept out a hand, gesturing that Sam had the floor. “I’m listening.”
“I wish that I were the outrageously successful, wealthy,competent”—Sam had learned her lesson there—“executive chef of Glut. Oh!” Just in case … “Without a taste for crime and …” She paused, playing over Hannah’s words, her gripe about Sam spending too much time at work. “With a healthy work-life balance.”
